Chapter Thirty-Seven: Path to the Demon Beast

The men stood in front of the large map. This map which stood around four meters in length showed the whole detailed image of the continent, as well as the kingdoms and empires' territory all over the land. But the two pairs of eyes were much more focused on the upper left portion of this map.

"Since I started the activation process five hours ago before I slept, the formation is already complete and active. I can check if there's an unusual mana that's completely different from the rest of the magic beasts in the right portion of the territory." Kai stated. Glancing at the person next to him, Kai silently and meekly shied away, putting a bit of a distance between him and this scary guy.

Helix nodded his head lightly. He silently acknowledges the efforts placed into this, at least. "Go on. We're leaving immediately after you locate it." Kai looked at Helix, and then he nodded in response.

Closing his eyes and going silent, Kai traced back the trails of his magic, and with a mental image of the map, various signs of magic suddenly appeared within his formation. Kai thoroughly manifested every signal he received in his mind, and once he knew that he finished, his eyes snapped open and connected the formation to the map before them both. It was just quick and simple.

Helix moved his gaze from Kai's face to the map, staring at it with a solemn expression.

Meanwhile, Kai pushed his hair back and sighed. 'Well, that was easier than I thought?' Magic sure is a strange thing. He didn't really know how this spell worked but when he just thought about it, it really worked. Anyway, leaving his thoughts behind, he raised his head and also stared at the map similarly.

Across the map were faint lights spread randomly. These lights symbolize the detected magic energy strongly clustered in a single area. "Hm. These could be just groups of magic beasts. Well, how would you filter those out?" Helix raised a question as he glanced at Kai with his usual indifferent gaze.

Kai looked back at him and thought, 'A test?' He paused for a while and thought about an answer after a second or so. "Demon beasts are solitary creatures. Magic beasts and other lifeforms wouldn't get close to them either." So all he has to do is to modify the formation and put an exception to those creatures in groups. Sure enough, after Kai modified it, quite a lot of those lights diminished leaving only a few left.

But Kai wasn't done yet. Although among the few lights left, there is one that stands out the most already, Kai continued as he stared intently at the certain location of the map. "And… since this demonic beast has been 'asleep' for decades, it must've hidden somewhere far from other creatures to keep itself safe from external factors."

That piece of land separated from the White Forest by a small stream. More than any other light across the map, only it shone brighter and larger than the rest.

Kai looked at Helix, expecting an opinion from the expert himself. The other had closed its eyes and was breathing evenly, but his magic was leaking out a little, signifying that he was currently using magic. Kai patiently waited, looking at the defined side profile of the other. After a few seconds, Helix's eyes revealed and he lightly nodded his head.

"Your way is very inefficient. You could have thought of a better procedure on how to locate the demon beast." Those piercing amethyst-colored eyes glanced at Kai with Helix just turning his head slightly. "But as you were practicing how to create a large-scale formation, and that you succeeded in your first try…" his lips pursed and his words stopped.

Despite the fact that he hadn't continued his words, Kai felt like Helix approved of him and was about to commend him. So with wide, expectant eyes, he looked at Helix pleadingly. Seeing that kind of gaze on the other, Helix suddenly wanted to mess the other up. So he instead retracted his supposed-to-be proper words of compliments and instead kept it vague and simple. "Not bad." He immediately turned his back on Kai as he headed towards the door. "Let's go."

A compliment is a compliment. A smile couldn't be stopped from creeping up to Kai's face as he then enthusiastically followed right behind Helix.

The two headed for the large doors of the castle. With one push, Helix opened one door and passed through it. He then turned his head slightly to the left and then to the right, after that, he mumbled, "According to the map, that place must be… over there." After approximately guessing where the supposed location of the beast was, Helix held out his hand in front of Kai. Though he said nothing, what he meant by the gesture was already obvious, which somehow surprised Kai. He thought as he placed his hand on top of Helix's, 'He usually just grabs me. Did he finally have a change of heart on how he treats me?' Kai had a hopeful thought.

Helix cast his teleportation magic, which, in an instant, brought the two of them into an entirely new area.

As soon as Kai opened his eyes and stepped on the cold white ground covered in snow, he immediately raised an eyebrow and frowned. Clearly, when he was here to cast the formation, the magic around here was mild, similar to other areas in the White Forest. But now, not only is there a violent blizzard, but the magic around is also in a state of chaos. "Helix… Something is odd here." The other should have a clear idea why this place is like this already, but Kai still said the obvious. Helix glanced at him and nodded lightly, "That just means that what we are looking for is nearby."

'That's true. But,' Kai frowned a bit, "When I was here earlier, this area was not like this at all." The winter in this region is harsh, but the current state of this place is even harsher and the magic is in chaos. It was as if a storm was brewing, a fierce magic storm. Is the demon beast the one causing this?

The two of them moved forward, with Helix leading the way. Currently, only Helix could find a way amidst this disordered realm. Treading in the thick snow that reached almost up to a grown man's waist, Helix finally started to feel annoyance at their slow pace as they moved forward. He couldn't even use teleportation as there was a risk of being transported somewhere else because of the unstable magic condition in the area. He stopped in his tracks with a displeased frown.

He turned his head slightly to Kai, "Come here." Kai did as he was told and approached Helix. With just a tens of inches away from the other, Kai looked at him with slight confusion. But the other didn't say anything, only grabbing Kai's arm with a light grip and pulling him even closer. Kai, startled, couldn't even start speaking out his questions before pillars of fire surrounded them both from all directions. After the snow melted into water and seeped through the frozen ground, there was another burst of magic cast by Helix himself in front of them, which made way for them.

The snow all around them was all but melted now. Kai couldn't help but laugh at this. A hesitant laugh, that is.

"Helix… I see that you've recovered well…" he laughed awkwardly. Helix started to move forward, but hearing Kai's words, he immediately shot a glare. "The problem was with the location and the damned barrier that man put up. There was nothing wrong with me, of course, I would recover."

That makes sense.

The two went on, with Helix still leading the way in the frozen ground path. And now they are in the middle of the land near the border between the empire and the kingdom. Helix stopped in his tracks and knelt down. His winter-white cloak touched the ground as he closely inspected the magic properties of the area. Helix touched the bare ground solemnly and soon, he frowned. "There is a hollow area right below us," he spoke with calmness as he then stood up and look at Kai, "Hold on to me. We're going down." Yet again, Kai grabbed Helix's hand that was held out in front of him.

And in an instant, the two of them are now surrounded by rocks, seemingly they are inside a cave now. It's dark, but they can still see each other through the darkness because of the dim light emitted by light-emitting insects and glowing magic stones. Kai looked at Helix and commented, "You were able to teleport here?"

"Mn. I suppose we can say that currently, we are at the eye of the storm. The magic above us is indeed chaotic, but here, it's oddly calm." He glanced at Kai and continued, "Use magic to light the way. At least do something, or were you planning to have me do everything today?"

Kai smiled awkwardly and raised his right hand. Light emitted in his hand and he then flicked his fingers, the same ball of light appeared floating near the wall of the pathway they were heading to which lit up the way clearly. Helix didn't say anything and simply hummed lightly in response. He started following the path which is now lit up, "Let's go end this."